The new new cocktail and champagne bar 26°EAST was opened in the Palais Hansen Kempinski with a magnificent party. According to General Manager Gerhard Mitrovits, this bar is to develop into an exclusive bar hotspot at the end of the Ringstrasse.

Austria was present at the 2018 music festival South-by-Southwest-Festival (SXSW) in Austin with a selection of its most innovative entrepreneurs and artists from culture, music and the start-up industry. The heart of the domestic performance was the Austrian Day at the German House in the legendary Barracuda Club. In the setting of a traditional Viennese coffee house inspired by Café Landtmann, the menu included inspiring discussions, technical innovations and entertaining performances in addition to Viennese sausages and Sacher cake.

In view of the political pressure exerted by the Hungarian government under the proposed amendments to Act CCIV of 2011 on Hungarian National Higher Education, the Central European University (CEU) of US billionaire George Soros feels compelled to look for alternatives. The city of Vienna naturally offers itself as an excellent alternative or supplement. The CEU and the City of Vienna are already in negotiations about a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that would enable CEU to open a satellite campus site in Vienna. The Otto Wagner area at Baumgartner Höhe is being examined as a possible location.

The Vienna-based technology company TTTech and China's largest automotive group Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) announced a joint venture with the intention to produce an Intelligent Driving Central Controller (iECU), which will be installed on the first China-made intelligent driving vehicle later this year. TTTech holds 49.9 percent in the new joint venture.

In this year's World Happiness Report, published annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Austria comes in 12th place, one place better than a year ago. Finland is the happiest country in the world, but the other Scandinavian countries are also in the lead.

RBI - Raiffeisen Bank International has doubled its profit in 2017 and rewards shareholders. They have not received any dividends since 2013. The bank had to pursue a sharp austerity course, reduce international business volumes, close branches in Eastern Europe and stop dividend payments. Russia remains the most important source of income.